John Schappert, Zynga COO, Resigns | Hacker News

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We found the fall guy...

Or is this people jumping off the bandwagon?

Schappert from an earlier article...

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In the interview Wednesday, Schappert, who left Electronic Arts to join Zynga, emphasized the opportunities lying ahead.

On the immediate horizon, he said, the company will get a boost from big Facebook titles coming later this year, including ChefVille, FarmVille 2 and another unannounced ’Ville game. Another near-term project focuses on branching out from the company’s core female demographic, by making “mid-core” game titles.

A bit further out, he said, the company has the opportunity to expand beyond Facebook into mobile. While its user base grew 50 percent to 33 million daily active users during the quarter, it has yet to develop games that encourage users to pay to play.

And in the long term, he said, the company has an opportunity in real-money gaming. While the prospect of gambling tends to get investors excited, it’s still limited for now to Europe. Plans include launching internationally in the first half of 2013, subject to licensing approval. The company is also working on publishing third-party titles for the Web and mobile.